MSNBC Logic: Calling Fallen Soldiers 'Heroic' Was 'Uncomfortable,' But Lena Dunham Is a 'Hero'
The hosts of MSNBC know what true courage is. In 2012, Chris Hayes admitted that he was "uncomfortable" calling fallen members of the military "heroes." On February 24, 2014, new anchor Ronan Farrow told viewers who a true role model is, liberal actress Lena Dunham. On the very first Ronan Farrow Daily, Farrow introduced a new segment called "Heroes and Zeroes."
He gushed, "Our hero is Lena Dunham, the authentic, gritty auteur behind HBO's Girls, who is a frequently naked champion of all kinds of female beauty." [MP3 audio here.] Apparently, Dunham's heroism stems from brushing off questions about having a Vogue photo shoot retouched. The 26-year-old host found this "classy" and marveled, "Lena is a modern feminist, the kind that is comfortable with her own body but also grateful for a little air brushing..."
On May 26, 2012, Chris Hayes sputtered:
CHRIS HAYES: I think it's interesting because I think it is very difficult to talk about the war dead and the fallen without invoking valor, without invoking the words "heroes." Um, and, ah, ah, why do I feel so comfortable [sic] about the word "hero"? I feel comfortable, ah, uncomfortable, about the word because it seems to me that it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war.
Farrow's new segment features one person he approves of another individual he isn't so enamored with. On Monday, the "zero" was Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the just-arrested Mexican drug lord. By that logic, wouldn't his captors deserve the "hero" status over Dunham?
Any time MSNBC hosts create a good/bad list, it usually skews hard left. In 2009, then-anchor David Shuster showcased a regular "Hypocrisy Watch." A MRC study found that 34 of the hypocrites were conservative. Only four were liberal.
A transcript of the February 24 segment is below:
1:44
RONAN FARROW: And welcome back to Ronan Farrow Daily. It's time now for today's heroes and zeroes. Our hero is Lena Dunham, the authentic, gritty auteur behind HBO's Girls, who is a frequently naked champion of all kinds of female beauty. Jezebel, the feminist-leading website offered $10,000 for unretouched images from her Lena's Vogue photo shoot. But the whole thing kind of backfired when the retouched photos weren't that different from the originals.
Lena initially brushed off the controversy. She said anyone can see her unretouched body on her show. That is true. She is naked a lot. She tweeted, quote, 10k? Give it to charity then just order HBO. Remember, it's not TV." She said that while Jezebel are, "quote, smart and funny, they made a monument error in their approach to feminism." Pretty classy. Lena is a modern feminist, the kind that is comfortable with her own body but also grateful for a little air brushing and aren't we all.
— Scott Whitlock is Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Scott Whitlock on Twitter.
